But to some of Cherry’s neighbors, the cypress-sided house at 516 Euclid St. is just Frank Lloyd Wrong. And almost six months into construction, with the home roughly 85 percent finished, Cherry and his wife, Marsha Gordon, face the real possibility that they might have to tear down their dream house.

“It was very much our intention to design and build a house that people would really like and accept,” Cherry said as he and Gordon stood in the shell of what they hope will be their master bedroom. “It was very surprising to us that there’s been this reaction, as if this is some crazy, modernist intervention.”

Decisions by historic zoning districts are appealed all the time. But John Hildreth, a vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, says this is a case with a bit of a twist.

“In the way it’s gone forward, and with construction being as far along as it is, to have that kind of action taken, it’s pretty unusual,” said Hildreth, based in Charleston, S.C.

The fight between neighbors began in September, when the Raleigh Historic Development Commission issued a certificate of appropriateness, or COA, for the couple’s 2,100-square-foot house. A few days later, Gail Wiesner, who lives in the sherbet-green bungalow across the street, filed a notice of intent to appeal.

But Cherry and Gordon proceeded with construction, saying the city advised them the appeal was “ procedural.”

Wiesner, a real-estate agent, argued that the commission’s COA panel violated several procedures. She called the design “garishly inappropriate” and said Cherry and Gordon failed to show that their project “preserves the special character of the Oakwood Historic District.”

“The structure as proposed is incongruous to the Oakwood Historic District,” wrote Wies-

ner, whose own home was built in 2008. “It will harm the character of the neighborhood and contribute to erosion of the neighborhood’s value as an asset to its residents.”

Carved out of the dense woods known as Mordecai Grove following the Civil War, Oakwood is an eclectic mix of 19th- and early 20th-century architectural styles — from ornate Italianate mansions and mansard-roofed Victorians to quaint bungalows and brightly painted shotgun houses. The historic district was created in the 1970s, when residents banded together to stop a proposed highway that would have cut through the neighborhood.

Now, instead of a thoroughfare, this modern house divides Oakwood.

Last month, the city’s Board of Adjustment voted 3-2 to overturn the certificate of appropriateness. The panel sent word to city hall to issue a “stop work” order.

Word soon spread beyond Oakwood’s borders. In early March, “Oakwood Modern House” launched its own Twitter account, which has almost 700 followers.

“Why does that ugly green house keep staring at me? Stop it,” said one tweet.

In an op-ed piece published in the Raleigh News & Observer, Myrick Howard, president of Preservation North Carolina, called the Oakwood controversy “one of the most disturbing of my 35-year career in historic preservation. Neighbors have been pitted against neighbors, and false rumors and innuendo have filled social media.”

Howard and others say the Cherry house is part of Oakwood’s architectural evolution.

Will Hillebrenner, an engineer who has been painstakingly restoring his World War I-

era bungalow, is one of many Oakwood residents who believe the historic development commission failed to stick to its own standards.

“The guidelines clearly state that any home, any new construction in the historic district should blend in and not stand out,” he said. “And a home whose very intent is a living piece of art is intended to stand out.”

Mary Iverson, who owns four historic homes in the neighborhood, said the Cherry house is beautiful, but it doesn’t belong in Oakwood.

“That is a leap of 100 years of design architecture,” she said. “So that’s not an evolution. That’s a ‘So let’s go to another planet.’?”